Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Our guild is in the process of planning a guild meetup this summer. We had originally planned on doing it last summer, but it didn't quite come together. But this year its really happening! This July we are having Clawcon/Clawfest/Clawlapalooza in Bainbridge Island, Washington.

The latest estimate is that there will be at least 8 of us there, with as many as perhaps 11 folks. I think having 8+ people come is pretty good considering that we are a 10 man raiding guild! We'll even have a couple of crazy canucks drive down from Canada! My plan is to fly out to Seattle from O'Hare, where Sam will meet me so we can begin the craziness on the flight over.

There is going to be a lot of interesting things for us to discover and learn at Clawcon, including:

* Will we call each other by our real names or toon names?
* How much salad can Shmoo really eat?
* What kind of yummies will the boys cook for us? (I have declared that the girls are doing nothing this weekend!)
* What happens when you lock Sam and Nkm together in a room overnight?
* Will we need the medical services of our personal medic Nico?
* What will happen once Shmoo finds out what the M is Nkm really stands for?
* Will Kal flirt with all the ladies in person like he does in game?
* Will K give Jess as much crap in person as she does in game? (Probable)
* What happens when you bring guildies, most of whom have never met before, under one roof with an abundance of alcohol?

Hmmm, important questions to ponder. The whole bit about wondering what happens when you bring guildies under one roof for a weekend sounds like MTV's The Real World, Left Claw style. Will there be drama?

Jess joked that if things get weird or uncomfortable, we can all bring our headsets and put them on to pretend we are just talking to each other on vent. Haha. Though somehow I don't think that will be necessary. Sure, its hard to know if people will click in person, but I have a feeling that folks will get along just fine.

I'm actually very interested to see if we'll call each other by our real names or not. Even though I know the real names of many of these folks, I just don't think I will be able to call them by their real names. Perhaps others will use real names, but for me these familiar and recognizable voices on vent are in my mind tied to their toon names.

But it will be interesting to see how folks may be different in person than they are in game, or as they are perceived by others in game. People have mentioned to me that they are much more shy or outgoing in real life. I personally am much less bitchy and opinionated in real life. Er, maybe. Though in all seriousness, I am not as talkative in real life as I may be in game.

I do think that the online vehicle of the game allows people the anonymity or space to be different than they are in real life. Or perhaps people are even different in game without realizing it themselves! How will all of this play out in our get together? Hmmm. /ponder

Then there's the whole thing of knowing what each other looks like. Jess and I did the facebook thing over a year and a half ago and a lot of other guildies have followed suit. There has recently been a rash of facebooking (Sam calls it a facebook orgy) within the guild, perhaps to prepare us for Clawcon. I have to pause here to publicly call out Nkm for still failing the rest of us on Facebook.

Anyways, I think it's very interesting when you see what someone looks like when you've had no idea for so long, which will be even more interesting when we meet face to face. I mean you've established some level of a relationship with someone over a period of time. Even within strictly platonic relationships, how do physical appearances affect perceptions or the relationship itself? Do they? Hmmm.

The last thoughts I have around Clawcon are how things will be afterwards. Will hanging out for 4 days with each other make us a stronger guild? Yes, I can see the bonds becoming stronger. But will it make it harder if someone leaves the game or the guild? Yeah, I'm sure it will. Will having somewhat of a relationship outside the game make it harder if any issues come up within the game? Perhaps.

Damn, I've been philosophical and deep today. Lots of questions. At the end of the day though, I have no doubts that things will be an absolute riot (perhaps dangerously so) and that we will have a great time. Clawcon 2010 baby!

Ok so a few years ago, my guild decided to have a get together. Yea we used our toons name, well since my toons are named after my actual nicknames it was no problem for me anywho. A fellow mage got really drunk, and I wrote on his back in perma ink marker. "PvEnis"

Sounds fun. Ive meet quite a number of guildies IRL that I meet in-game. I find that at first I would use their toons name. However, over time I got to know them as their real name and so would often transition to that.We still use toon names over vent though.

This is going to be the wack. Hopefully, the fun will outweigh all the shit that will get pitched ;>}

I'm really looking forward to this. Getting to hang out with people in person with whom I've hung out on vent for several years will be great. It's like trying a bunch of friends out for awhile without commitment and then going whole hog. I've stayed in the guild all this time because I enjoy hanging out with you guildies. I can only imagine it will be better in RL.

... I have visions of me wandering the place with barf-buckets and sniggering at y'all. I see myself trying to stick people with IV's while blasted myself (F' coorse I ca do this! Nnnt THAT drunkers!). I imagine myself looking around at the guys who can cook, and then pulling out a bottle of rot-gut (Hey, it's got grain in it. That makes it FOOD!).

But mostly, I see myself having a blast. May we all have fun, and then may G-d have mercy on our souls afterwards, for our livers shall not.

@Wutsie: Haha, great thought about trying out friends for a while without the commitment... I think what we will find is that somehow a bunch of us who are pretty similar in real life got together in game.

I was talking to Rap last night about from what I know so far, I could see a number of us having become friends in real life even without wow.

@Nico: Heh... is the medic going to require medical services?

@To the rest of my guildies: Do I really need to do another fairy tale post to get folks to comment here? I post about us getting together and what, no comments from some of y'all? Don't make me publicly call you out (um Jess, Vel, Shmoo, Rap, Kal, and Sam!)

I will post!!! Ok so as the officially voted into office for the position of party drunk girl I would like to say.... RUM!!!! Don't forget it!! heh Ok so really, I am so excited to meet all of you goonies. I think we will have a blast and I am so happy it is going to be in my hometown. That way when you all give me the creeps I can run back to Mommy. hahahaha K, I told Jess last night not to be scared when I have two rum and cokes and tell him I love him. As strange as it is, I feel close to you all. Yay for Clawcon 2010!!!